Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Lori, Kotayk, and Gegharkunik regions to get acquainted with implemented and ongoing programs.

The Prime Minister’s first stop was the newly built Harutyun and Susan Mangoyans Secondary School in Debed.

Nikol Pashinyan toured the school, familiarized himself with the implemented works and the created conditions. The cost of the project is 780 million drams, which was allocated by the Children of Armenia Foundation (COAF). The school’s property was allocated by the Government. In the near future, a gymnasium will also be built at the school with state funding. The school is designed for 192 students. As of 2025, the actual number of students is 114. The works started in April 2024 and were completed on September 1, 2025.

The Prime Minister congratulated those present on the opening of the school and thanked the Mangoyan family, the Children of Armenia Foundation, and all benefactors who contributed to the construction of the school.

In that context, Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the issue of Armenia-Diaspora relations and emphasized the need to adopt new formulas in this process in new times. According to the Prime Minister, today's event is an expression of that new model: "Now we are working on how to create synergy and join our forces. I think this school is also an expression of such a formula, because the building was built through the efforts of our benefactors, COAF, and the property was provided by the Government."

The Prime Minister also promised the children that in the near future the Government, together with COAF partners, will build an indoor gym near the school that will meet the standards.

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the ideology of the Government’s message “Study well to live well,” which is an expression stemming from our self-awareness. According to the Prime Minister, social or humanitarian assistance does not change anything in people’s lives at all, but sometimes makes it worse. And therefore, according to Nikol Pashinyan, school is a place where students should learn to live well and everyone should choose their own path to living well. “And these ideas of living well should be interrelated with values, which should be expressed in the culture of the state, its regulations, relations, the Constitution, legislation, statehood, community, and human relations.”

The Prime Minister once again thanked the benefactors and COAF for the work done and expressed confidence that this cooperation will continue.

Summing up his speech, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized: "I am convinced that this school is the beginning of a better life for the children of Debed, and we must guide them in that direction, because the good life of children, families, villagers, and citizens means that the country lives well, and the good life of the country means that citizens live better. This is our simple, very primitive-sounding, but very difficult to implement goal, but I am convinced that we, despite all the difficulties, will achieve this goal."

Then, the Prime Minister visited the Vanadzor Medical Center, where he got acquainted with the construction works of the infectious diseases building. The cost of the project is 956 million drams, of which 214 million drams were allocated by the Government, and the rest are grant funds. The infectious diseases building has 50 beds. The works started in May 2023 and were completed in March 2025. 99 million drams were spent on equipping it with medical equipment and furniture.

Nikol Pashinyan's next stop was at Vanadzor Primary School No. 8, where major renovation works were carried out. The total cost of the project was 245 million drams, which was allocated by the Government. The school is designed for 358 students. The renovation works are planned to be completed in October. The school is included in the list of schools included in the Government's "300 Schools to be Built, Renovated or Reconstructed by 2026" program.

Next, the Prime Minister visited Vanadzor Primary School No. 9, where major renovation works have also been carried out. More than 140 million drams have been allocated from the state budget for the latter. The school is designed for 183 students. This school is also included in the list of the Government's "300 Schools to be Built, Renovated or Reconstructed by 2026" program.

A new gymnasium has also been built in Vanadzor Primary School No. 9. The Government has allocated 224 million drams for the program.

In Kotayk region, the Prime Minister visited the newly built Hrazdan Primary School No. 2. The total cost of the project is about 1 billion 912 million drams. The project was implemented under the Seismic Safety Improvement Program of the Asian Development Bank and co-financed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The newly built school is designed for 432 students. The construction launched in November 2021 and was over by August 2025. The school is included in the list of schools included in the Government's "300 Schools to be Built, Renovated or Reconstructed by 2026" program.

Nikol Pashinyan made a speech, congratulating everyone on the opening of another school. The Prime Minister noted with satisfaction that the construction and opening of a school is becoming a very common, everyday thing for us. Prime Minister Pashinyan emphasized the importance of understanding the message "Study well to live well" and expressed hope that with the knowledge received in schools, children will expand the Government's understanding of living well and will formulate their own standards for living well with their own ideas - as individuals, as schools, as society, as communities.

The Prime Minister touched upon school construction programs, emphasizing the importance of implementing quality construction work. In this context, the Prime Minister emphasized that there is a clear positive shift in the field of school construction.

Nikol Pashinyan once again expressed his gratitude and appreciation to all citizens working in the Republic of Armenia, creating results, and paying their taxes as prescribed by law. The Prime Minister also emphasized the fact that children should also record this fact: the school was built with the taxes paid by citizens, including their parents. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the need to receive and demand a cash register receipt: “If we do not demand, do not receive, and do not take a cash register receipt, we are giving the opportunity for 20% of what we buy not to go to the state budget.” The Prime Minister urged those present to demand and take a cash register receipt so that more schools can be built.

Nikol Pashinyan noted that he returns the words of gratitude addressed to the Government to all those people who work, create results, and pay their taxes as prescribed by law. “And to those who are not engaged in particularly large economic activities, I express my gratitude for not failing to demand the cash register receipt, because the cash register receipt is a school, a kindergarten, the cash register receipt is a state, the cash register receipt is security, the cash register receipt is a road, etc..”

Summing up his speech, the Prime Minister presented the Government’s vision of Armenia: “We imagine Armenia like this, like these and other newly built schools, which are not perfect and, by the way, will never be perfect, but are happy, living, promising, bright, spacious, breathful, have a soul, have life, will live and will live well.”

In the Hrazdan community, Nikol Pashinyan also visited a modular type nursery-kindergarten with a capacity of 144 places, where construction work is in the final stage. The total cost of the project is 929 million drams, the funds were provided from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia.

In the Gegharkunik region, Nikol Pashinyan visited the newly built secondary school in Jil, got acquainted with the work carried out and the created conditions. The cost of building the school is more than 1 billion 397 million drams, which was allocated by the Government. As a result of the implementation of the project, a new modular school and a preschool were built. The project was launched in 2021 and completed in 2025.

The Prime Minister made a speech, congratulated those present on the completion of work on the Jil school, and happily noted that the construction of the road will also be completed soon. “This is probably the largest investment in the history of the village, the road and the school taken together. And this is a very important achievement. With this, we emphasize the importance of access to education in all regions, in all villages, the availability of such an environment in all regions, in all settlements," the Prime Minister said and added. "I want you to feel like a free and proud citizen in this school, to feel your strength, the power of your creativity, the power of knowledge, to understand that your future is being built today, every day in this school."

The Prime Minister referred to the slogan "The Future is Today" and noted: "First of all, this applies to school, because based on the child school activities today, the quality of his activities, we can predict their future with 80% or more accuracy," said Nikol Pashinyan and emphasized: "The slogan is about the fact that the future does not need to be predicted, there is no need to make predictions about the future, the future is also being built today by your work: how much children are immersed in the educational process, how much that educational process is pleasant to them, how much it endows them with the very knowledge that will help them find the job they love in life and how professional they will be in the job they love."

Speaking about poverty, the Prime Minister expressed his conviction that today the problem of poverty in 80% of cases directly, unequivocally, without deviations depends on the quality of education. "I want to say that our belief is that each of the children has an exceptional talent, and the role of the educational system, the role of all of us, is to support them, help them, encourage them, so that both they and we can reveal their talent. What are the children talented in?: one is a talented athlete, another is a talented actor, the third is a talented scientist, the fourth is a talented businessperson, the fifth is a talented teacher, the sixth is a talented artist, the seventh is a talented politician, the eighth is a talented diplomat, etc. And this is precisely the role and significance of the school," Nikol Pashinyan noted.

Summing up his speech, the Prime Minister emphasized: "Dear children, this is the space for expressing your talent. This is your home. You have to live here and you have to see here every day, create your future with your own hands. These books and the lessons you are exposed to, these classrooms, this school, the curriculum you are exposed to, are the key to your future. And I want you to master, find that key and find the door that will open your prosperous, happy, free future."